Geldof back in Ethiopia (praises Our President...slams Clinton and the EU)!

The Guardian ^

[God luvs America]

Bob Geldof astonished the aid community yesterday by using a return visit to Ethiopia to praise the Bush administration as one of Africa's best friends in its fight against hunger and Aids. The musician-turned activist said Washington was providing major assistance, in contrast to the European Union's "pathetic and appalling" response to the continent's humanitarian crises.

"You'll think I'm off my trolley when I say this, but the Bush administration is the most radical - in a positive sense - in its approach to Africa since Kennedy," Geldof told the Guardian.

The neo-conservatives and religious rightwingers who surrounded President George Bush were proving unexpectedly receptive to appeals for help, he said. "You can get the weirdest politicians on your side."

Former president Bill Clinton had not helped Africa much, despite his high-profile visits and apparent empathy with the downtrodden, the organiser of Live Aid, claimed. "Clinton was a good guy, but he did fuck all."

His comments, made on the first day of a week-long visit intended to put Africa on the agenda of the G8 summit in France at the weekend, caught off-guard some aid organisations that have accused Washington of using its food aid as a covert subsidy for American farmers.

They had also tempered praise for a recent US pledge of $15bn (£9bn) to fight HIV and Aids in poor countries with criticism that too much was tied to campaigns promoting sexual abstinence - in deference to Christian lobbyists who oppose the use of condoms.

The US has also been accused of planning to bury a radical French plan that would help some of the world's poorest farmers by ending the dumping of subsidised western food in Africa.

Geldof, however, lauded the US and Britain for supplying the bulk of the 1.15m tonnes of food aid that has been pledged to Ethiopia to plug a food shortage that threatens 15 million people.

But another 365,000 tonnes of food aid are needed, said the World Food Programme.

Lord Alli, the aid activist who is accompanying Geldof on the trip organised by the UN children's aid agency Unicef, echoed his praise of the Bush administration.

"Clinton talked the talk and did diddly squat, whereas Bush doesn't talk, but does deliver," Lord Alli said.

[God luvs America]

BTW: In a small quirp on this story the NY Daily News also pointed out how Richard Gere recently called BJ Bill Clinton a fraud!

[T Lady]

SAY, WHAT????

...Wonders never cease.

-Regards, T.

[xm177e2]

I hope Bush is doing the right thing for Africa. They need all the help they can get. In the long run, the stronger Africa is, the stronger the US will be (because Africa is rich in natural resources, and exporting them to us will be good for us). If anyone can tackle the AIDS crisis, it is a results-oriented Republican president, not a sex-obsessed Democrat or a sex-obsessed Republican.

[Woodman]

Sometimes the truth just shines through and opens up ones eyes...

[JoeSchem]

Another BTW, a lot of us conservatives wonder if the African AIDS crisis is overblown and is simply a world health community (read: prostitution ring) scam to ring up dollars that could be better spent in different ways to aid the African people. Clinton and the EU aren't the only leftist collectivists with an agenda that claims to help people while actually doing 'diddly.'

[PPHSFL]

This brings to mind a quote I heard once, "Liberals talk about the problems of the world, conservatives do something about it!"

[ppaul]

We are the wierd;
We are the starving....

[T Lady]

Or, as many have noted, a blind squirrel finds an acorn.

-Regards, T.

[harpo11]

"Clinton talked the talk and did diddly squat,
whereas Bush doesn't talk, but does deliver," Lord Alli said.

One president was focused on himself.
One president is focused on his fellow man.
One man wanted to look good.
One man is good.

[chiller]

Dittos

Geldof saying Bush good. Clinton bad.

...this is a mindblower...hats off to Bobby.

[God luvs America]

Or, as I like to say:

BJ Bill said what people wanted to hear, Our President says what needs to be said.

BJ Bill did what was popular, Our President does what needs to be done.

[chiller]

..tell me more...

[DoughtyOne]

I wish I could share your idealistic vision of Africa US relations. The sad truth is that the more we donate, the more they hate us. It never fails, if the US steps in to help, we get mugged sooner or later.

[GOPJ]

Good one:

"Liberals talk about the problems of the world, conservatives do something about it!"

[billbears]

"Liberals talk about the problems of the world, conservatives do something about it!"

Spending taxpayer dollars on unconstitutional handouts is not conservative

[1066AD]

a lot of us conservatives wonder if the African AIDS crisis is overblown
I was there in 1990, listening to co-workers etc, as well as statistics from knowledgeable agencies, it wasn't overblown even then so I'm sure it's much worse now.

[Admin Moderator]

Let's stick to original titles please.

[Marie Antoinette]

Ping to you

[dixiechick2000]

Very well said. Thank you!

[xm177e2]

I wish I could share your idealistic vision of Africa US relations. The sad truth is that the more we donate, the more they hate us. It never fails, if the US steps in to help, we get mugged sooner or later.

There is a certain mindset that we should bestow our magically wonderful charity upon those poor degenerate black people who will love us in return even though they will always be savages. This is the mindset of the left-winger/Euro-peon. They want black Africans to be poor and dependant on charity. They want to be the saviors of those people.

But that is not the only way to charity. There's the whole give a man a fish/teach a man to fish school of thought (hint: it comes from the Bible). Charities like the "Heifer Project" give Africans (and other poor people) the tools they need to succeed. Those are good charities, because they are not permanent, they are not designed to create permanent dependence--on the other hand, they are designed to make people self-sufficient. And that sort of charity is successful. I think Bush is a results-oriented guy (he was a business major, after all), and I think he will get results, and not just engage in the political equivalent of masturbation (which is all left-wing charities accomplish--they make the giver feel good about himself without helping anyone else in the long run).

In fact, left-wing "charities" often do more harm than good. With regard to Zimbabwe, for instance, they agree with Mugabe that sending Genetically Modified food to alleviate the famine there would be a bad thing. They are complicit in Mugabe's deliberate, artificial famine. They are not just worthless, they are actually evil.